Battle for the Punchbowl: The U. S. 1st Marine Division 1951 Fall Offensive of the Korean War
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assault. They "jumped off" at 0930, and met heavy resistance. While Fox attacked, Easy2/1 moved to the spur of 749 leading south east to secure the right flank.2"Heavy frontal and flanking" small arms and automatic fire scythed into Marineranks from the head and leg of the "T" shaped ridge line. The direction of the attack wasto the northwest where the ridgeline ran towards Hill 812. "This attack moved Northalong the ridge line leading from Hill 749 in the face of a most stubborn enemy and well-emplaced bunkers mutually supporting, and, together with the cross-fire of the enemythus emplaced and extremely difficult terrain the forward movement of the attackingelements was stopped at 1530." The attack ground to a halt. The enemy called inmortar and artillery fire on his own positions every time the Marines got close. After theattack bogged down, 2/1 called in every scrap of artillery and air it could allocate todeluge the objective before continuing the assault.3Corporal Matthew Dukes of Fox Company, 2/1, moved with the point platoon as aFire Team Leader to root out a sniper that had fired on his men. He charged forwardalone in pursuit of the sniper. A bullet hit him in the face, ruining his left eye, butnevertheless, he maintained his assault, crawling across forty yards of open terrain. Hethen single-handedly destroyed the sniper with shots from his M-1 rifle. He was bleedingprofusely by this time but refused to seek aid. He continued with his unit in the assaultand helped seize the hill and dig in. Only then did Dukes start back towards an aidstation. Enroute, he spotted another wounded Marine in an exposed area. Dukes2 st Marine Regiment, "Historical Diary," September 1951, 15; Lynn Montross, et al., The East-CentralFront, 191; 1st Mar Div, "Historical Diary," September 1951, 17-18; Second Battalion, 1st MarineRegiment, "Historical Diary," September 1951, 7.3 Second Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, "Historical Diary," September 1951, 7; 1st Marine Regiment,"Historical Diary," September 1951, 3, 15.